Phyllis Vine

Biography

American Library Association, NOTABLE BOOK, 2005

Washington Irving, BOOK SELECTION, 2005

GREAT LAKES BOOK AWARD, 2004

Phyllis Vineís latest book, One Manís Castle: Clarence Darrow in Defense of the American Dream is the dramatic story of Dr. Ossian Sweet, a model citizen who dared to move into a house the Ku Klux Klan thought should be off-limits to an accomplished member of the Black Bourgeoisie. Historian David Levering Lewis has called this tragic tale ďone of the most significant of all horror stories of Jim Crow gone North.Ē

Vine attended UCLA and the University of Michigan, where she earned a doctorate in history. She has been on the faculties of Union College, Barnard College, and Sarah Lawrence College, including the graduate program in Womenís History.

She is the author of two previous books:Families in Pain, the first book to reveal the turbulence borne by relatives of people afflicted with mental illness, has been hailed for its honest and sensitive discussion about personal pain and failed social policies.
And Household and Kin a co-authored feminist history of the family used in high school and college classes.

For the past decade, she has written for magazines such as The Nation, Progressive, Extra! and City Limits. She lives in Hastings-on-Hudson with her husband and two children.

To find out more about her books, or order on-line, click on the title in the adjoining column.

Selected Works

History

One Manís Castle: Clarence Darrow in Defense of the American Dream
Clarence Darrow's landmark trial defending Dr. Ossian Sweet, an accomplished black physician who defends his home from the attack of a Klan-inspired mob. Studs Terkel says it may be Darrow's "most important" case. "It reads like a thriller. . .but for the fact that it's true."

Families in Flux
Part of the Feminist Press Series of books about women's lives, work and history.

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